


the fight for the Federation

by Rangerfan58



Series: Starfleet Jedi [2]
Category: Star Trek, Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Sequel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-15
Updated: 2017-07-14
Packaged: 2018-12-02 07:05:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 24,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11504220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rangerfan58/pseuds/Rangerfan58
Summary: also found on ff.n under different title





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> also found on ff.n under different title

Seventy years had passed since anyone had seen the  _New Hope_  and things had become routine in both the Republic and Federation. Six years after the refugees escaped from the Federation the Republic started to fight back along with a fledgling rebellion but they didn't make as much progress as they thought they would. Instead what had happened was a sort of back and forth situation where the Republic would win a few battles and then those in control of the Federation would win a few battles, a Federation base would be blown up so they blew up a rebel base which was essentially a Republic base. By the time seventy years had passed most people had grown up in a war era and remembered nothing else, those few who did remember the time before that were too old to help and their memories were either very foggy due to decreased mental status or considered as part of history and the people who remembered couldn't have been that old. The only reason why anyone even remembered what the fighting was about was because it was remembered annually and also in history classes. The Republic had also been invaded twice in that time period both times pushing back the invaders but each time the Federation came closer to Coruscant which was the capitol of the Republic. Many people had also given up hope that the war would ever end  _because_  of the fact that they had lived their entire lives in a constant state of vigilance due to war, not knowing that a trump card was hidden away. Both the Republic Senate and Jedi Council were also pretty tired but they had greater trust in one another than in the years before the war and the Jedi trusted the clones implicitly and led them in battles both in the Republic and Federation. The Jedi also at times were in low spirits because they occasionally sent out search units for a rumored Starfleet officer known as a Sentinel who might still be alive but they had never found them, the Jedi did that in concert with the Republic born Starfleet officers who had developed in very interesting ways due to the fact that not many teachers escaped from the Federation and after a year all contact was essentially lost, but the Starfleet officers who took up teaching roles did their best but there would always be a slight difference between the Republic taught Starfleet and the Federation taught Starfleet. Or so they thought because the Federation Starfleet Academy had developed in the same way under war conditions so the training was actually the same they just didn't know it yet. In the Senate building at the seventy year anniversary there was a meeting being held about the current situation they were in

"Does anyone have any better ideas then to see if we can't get the Dominion free?"

"None at the moment, and the Jedi are still looking for that mythical officer that may or may not be alive I believe the race was called Vulcan which are long lived, at least according to the records we have seeing as how there aren't any Vulcans currently in the Republic alive as far as we know of"

"I see, what was the latest result?"

"They've lost communications with them and they are considered missing and presumed dead, just like the last team sent out...five years ago"

"Don't they have a pattern of some sort?"

"Yes they do, every five years the Jedi search and then have to declare the team missing and presumed dead at a certain area of space but due to the fact that we occasionally get Separatist activity in that area it's not all that surprising"

"Yes the Separatists, it's surprising they've lasted these past seventy years as well"

Indeed it was because initially the fighting against the Separatists only lasted two years and that's because no one really wanted another civil war but as the years passed there were times when some planets wanted to secede from the Republic for a time because they were tired of war and they fought for that right and then there were times when everyone was united and wanted to free the Federation. It was essentially a very confusing situation when there were Separatists because the fighting was mostly political battles with very few actual battle sights mainly because they didn't want to kill fellow Republic citizens they just wanted a break from all the fighting so when there  _were_  actual battlefields there wasn't a lot of damage or death on either side and by mutual consent villages were kept out of the fighting as much as possible. It didn't always work out that ways but if there was damage to the villages both sides would halt their battles long enough to help repair the damage and then make sure to take the fighting away from occupied areas unless they simply declared that the fighting on that planet was over and either there was no victor or depending on who had the most equipment at the time of the truce that side was declared the victor. Both sides also had a mutual agreement that the planets they fought on were not to be battles for the planets allegiance and that the battles on those planets simply happened due to resources or sometimes they happened on neutral planets because both sides wanted to take a vacation and there were people from both sides on the same planet, though when that happened the battles were smaller scale and didn't last as long as other battles. All of this came about because none of the planets could declare neutrality this time around due to the fact that they never knew if the Federation would succeed in invading Republic space so during the periods that planets were considered Separatists they had to take care of themselves and not rely on the protection being part of the Republic gave the other planets. There was also always a pattern to the Separatist movement as well, the movement was always in about the same area of space and the planets that ceded from the Republic had strong armies at the time but then were weaker by the time they returned to the Republic why that was no one knew but it was what it was

"Yes, but at the moment as far as I know there aren't any Separatist movements so why they've gone missing at this point in time is a mystery"

Meanwhile on a planet in that exact space which neither side ever battled on because of the unique atmospheric conditions there was a group of people simply training to fight, all under the leadership of one person. That person led because they were the oldest by a lot due to the fact that they were a different race from most of the people there, and they could tell that the person had experience. It also helped that they were the only ones who wore a uniform that only those that joined from the outside truly recognized, those born on the planet were so used to seeing it that they never questioned what it was or what it stood for

"Soketh can we please fight back now?"

"No, it's not yet time for us to truly reveal ourselves"

"You always say that whenever someone goes off planet including this last time are you ever going to decide it's time"

"When I say it's time to fight back it will be time to fight back until then you are to obey my orders"

"Which don't make any sense except to the group that use the same weird weapon you use"

"And speaking of which do I need to remind people of that standing rule I have in regards to the weapon?"

"No you don't, the last time someone was stupid enough to ignore that rule they regretted it for the rest of their life if I recall the story correctly"

Soketh stares out at the group he had been in charge of for just over fifty years and sighs heavily thinking of not only how to answer the person but also what he'd been through for seventy years and more so in the last fifty being in charge of the group that the survivors of the  _New Hope_  had started after they had landed on the planet and been forced to stay put until the time was right, which was basically up to the Force though no one now except the Jedi that had joined knew that

"I know you don't understand what's going on but our visitors do and thus the reason why they don't question me and are also doing their best to teach you what they can until the time is right"

"When will you know the time is right?"

"Trust me I'll know, now then tell John he's in charge until I get back"

"You're making your annual trip again aren't you?"

"Yes I am"

"That's something else that has never been explained to us, why you simply disappear for two weeks and then show up again a little more tired then before but otherwise nothing's changed...wait I take that back, you're physically tired but mentally and emotionally you seem to heal for lack of a better word, and the physical exhaustion is the travel I'm pretty sure of it"

"There are reasons behind that which you will find out in time I hope"

"Fine, I'll let John know, by the way is this trip different somehow because you've been restless recently as have our guests"

"I'm afraid I don't quite know that yet"

"Well we'll be alert just in case, see you in two weeks"

"See you in two weeks"

Soketh leaves what was essentially a town now while the person she was talking to alerted the rest of the people to the fact that he had left for his annual pilgrimage and that John was in charge

"Pilgrimage?"

"Yes, once a year for two weeks he simply leaves and doesn't tell anyone where he's going, he shows up after the two weeks as healthy as ever pretty much and we go back to the same routine for another year. When he leaves varies depending on several factors here but he tries to make her trip during what counts as summer here because the winters are extremely harsh"

"Is there anything we should expect while he's gone?"

"No not really, but he's been edgy lately, as have several others you guys haven't but then you don't carry the weird weapons like the people who came with you"

"And they're extremely edgy, though we have an idea why so we'll ask them"

So the people split up pretty much into newcomers and people who know the routine except for a few, but then all of them were either Jedi or knew about what Jedi could do

"Have you guys been getting feelings in the Force? I ask because you guys including the leader of this place are getting edgy and edgy Jedi doesn't make for a good situation in the end"

"Yeah the Force is trying to tell us something but what we have no clue, even Soketh doesn't really know what the Force is trying to tell him and he has years of experience more then us because of how old he is"

"Just how old is he?"

"I think he mentioned he's around ninety, though we can't be too sure about that because even he's lost track of time on occasion, though he knows it's been seventy years since the whole war started he sometimes forgets exactly when he joined Starfleet"

"Isn't that a sign of trouble in his species?"

"There is a disease yes but this time the memory trouble is caused by something else"

"Like what?"

"He moved around way too frequently in his early years to be able to properly keep track of the time, according to him they didn't settle down permanently until a year before he tried to enter the Academy at about age twenty, seeing as how he decided to wait until then even if he could legally join at eighteen so that he had a little more time to mature and have a stable life first"

"That would do it then, constantly moving around does make one lose track of time I should know I was on missions often enough with different time schedules that sometimes I would forget if it was day or night on Coruscant"

"Well like I said he'll be back in two weeks and things will be back to the same old routine which most people are tired of"

"He has his reasons for not acting decisively though they don't know it yet"

"Exactly, they're starting to lose trust"

"Well we all have work to do in the meantime"

The town gets back to work while Soketh goes to an area that no one knew about. Soketh had kept his silent promise seventy years earlier when he vowed no one but he would ever know where Ashland was hidden away to heal, not even their Captain had known even though he wanted to. After a two day journey Soketh made it to the location Ashland was hidden and started his routine. He would simply meditate for several days and also use that time to keep his Sentinel's Defense training up because he couldn't really do that much training being in charge of the group. After a week was up he simply kept watch over Ashland updating her on everything that had happened in the past year and also seeing if she was ready to finally be released from carbonite


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey Ashland it's me again, we recently got some Jedi and they informed me that around this time would the seventy year anniversary since this whole mess started between the Federation and Republic" (sighs) "I could really use your help right now, even though I know it's too dangerous to let you free before you are healed things are starting to come to a boil at the town. Seventy years is also a long time to be hidden and it seems like every new generation wants to be more and more active in the fighting because I  _do_  send people off world occasionally for supplies and information gathering, but even more is the fact that all the Jedi can feel something in the Force though no one can really identify what that feeling is. I'm sure though that you would know if you were awake, but I also know that if you had healed before now you would probably be dead by this point in time and I would still be alone"

He finishes his report and simply starts spending the rest of the week watching and waiting telling her stories he hadn't told her before both old stories that he hadn't really thought of at the time and new stories from the past year. He also reminisced about stories Ashland would know about because she had been there at the time. On the last day before he left he looked at Ashland's vitals and realized that they had changed drastically from the night before and he actually recognized those readings

"You...you're healed and ready to come out of the carbonite but how?"

Soketh thinks about what was different from the day and years before and he soon realized that there had been a drastic shift in the Force right before he had gone to sleep but since he couldn't identify it at the time he simply acknowledged it and then went to sleep but now he realized what he had felt the night before. The Force was saying that it was time for the group to truly be active and it had granted Ashland the last bit of healing she had needed so he quickly released her from the carbonite

"Easy there Ashland, you've been in carbonite for a long time"

"Soketh is that you?"

"It's me, are you having vision problems?"

"Yes I'm little more than half blind which means I can see shadows and shapes but other than that nothing is clearly defined"

"Could you...hear me in the carbonite?"

"No not really, by the way how long has it been?"

"Seventy years"

"Wow that's a long time"

"Indeed it is, now then I think we should see about your control of the Force"

They soon discovered that Ashland's control was shot and that she sensed her connection to the Force was changed which would explain her control issues

"Any other differences physically after all that time will have to be discovered by the doctor on this planet or once we start to participate in the Republic once more maybe the Temple doctor"

"Agreed, by the way the war between the Republic and Federation is still going on"

"I was hoping that things were different"

"Nope, and there are times when there are Separatists as well"

(Groans) "I was hoping that wouldn't be the case"

"Well things are a bit different this time, the battles are more political and they never last long with neither side either the victor or loser. And it only happens when planets are a bit tired of the war and want no part of it"

"Oh, are there neutral planets this time around?"

"No because of the Federation situation no planet can truly be neutral but any battles that take place do not involve the allegiance of said planet"

"Well at least it's a simpler war than when the Republic became an Empire after the Clone Wars"

"Now then we have two days before I'm late and it will take those two days to get back to camp, so I'm afraid you're going to have to trust me and use a blindfold so that your eyes can continue to heal"

"Only during the brightest parts of the day Soketh because my vision is clearing up even now"

"Fine we'll do things your way"

"Works for me, by the way seeing as how after you guys crashed you weren't around Starfleet to figure out promotions what rank are you?"

"I made it to Second Junior and remained that way ever since"

"So you basically outrank me which is a good thing all considered"

"Only by one rank and to be honest once we're caught up with training we'll probably be busted down to Entry because of how long we've both been gone"

"Well the original Starfleet and Council knew about the carbonite sleep but I don't know if that message was ever passed down over the years"

"We'll figure it out but for now I think you really should follow my lead seeing as how I've been in charge the longest, even if you technically outrank me"

"I was planning on doing that from the beginning, oh by the way even if my control is shot I want to fight if I am needed"

"Don't worry I wasn't planning on leaving you out of the fight"

"Good"

The two journey back and everyone at the town could tell something was different because there were two people headed in their direction instead of one like it had been for as long as anyone could remember

"Why are there two people coming when there should only be one?"

"Wait, that Force signature could it be?"

"Maybe, I mean we've never actually felt that Force signature before but it was described to us plenty of times in lessons whenever they discussed how to recognize a fellow Jedi simply from their Force signature if you couldn't see them for whatever reason"

"And the messages passed down in the years that have gone by"

"Yeah, it's how we recognized the leader of the group"

"Okay it might be her, but a changed her from what I can sense"

"Agreed, there will be much to discover over the upcoming weeks"

Before anyone could ask the Jedi what they were talking about though the town was under attack by Separatists, because what no one knew was that the Federation hadn't left the last time they invaded the Republic they had left members in hiding waiting for the moment and had stolen Separatist equipment not knowing how that particular war was being fought these days. That's when the most recent arrivals of Jedi revealed their secret though because all of a sudden there was water and lightening flying out of their hands and combinations also coming out, some of the older Jedi also revealed that they had elemental powers as well but none of them had the fire ability which Ashland had, or at least none of the Jedi that had ended up on the planet because there were other Jedi in the Republic that could use fire it's just that there were so few that the Council didn't want to risk losing their few fire users. From the short distance Soketh and Ashland both saw that their people were in need of help

"Soketh, let's hurry and even up the odds"

"What about your control?"

"At the moment precise control isn't needed but our abilities are, at least my vision is completely back to normal"

"You have a point, okay let's do it"

The two run the last bit of distance and then start joining in the fight immediately combining their powers into a strong attack that only they could use not because of the fact that they were fire and water users but because of their unique experience with one another, one the teacher of new abilities and the other the master, the first one to have elemental abilities through the Force and the second to discover that ability

"Steam explosion!"

All of a sudden there was a lot of steam surrounding the enemy and then a huge explosion erupted from that area and once the steam cleared everyone could see that the three tanks and fifty robots were in tiny pieces. Once that combination attack was over they proved why they were the masters of elements amongst the group even if one of them was currently having control issues

"Defender's rapid attack!"

Suddenly it was like bullets of fire were coming out of Ashland's fist and hitting several of the attack droids coming at them from the air, even though she also missed several others at least she didn't hit any innocents. Meanwhile with Soketh he too was proving why he was a master at the use of water abilities

"Water whip!"

Suddenly a stream of water was acting like a whip and he was cutting through the droids and tanks with the whip and Soketh's control was perfect. Those that had elemental abilities realized that the two that had come from out of town, one of them a recognized leader and the other a potentially recognized leader were at least ten times better at elemental manipulation then they were because while the Force allowed them to grow in their abilities for some reason no one had either the control or ability to hit multiple enemies at once unless they used a large attack. Part of that was due to the Force limiting them until the two rightful teachers could return, another part was that none of them had earned the right to that control because they didn't practice their abilities for hours on end after discovering them and on a daily basis unlike Ashland had mostly in secret but also out in the open until her carbonite sleep while Soketh was forced to practice in secret but he put in just as much time as Ashland and then some but only because of his race and the fact that he hadn't been put to sleep after Ashland had. Another thing the elemental users noticed was that for the two masters their abilities were like a dance to them while for everyone else they didn't have the grace or ability to simply move about when using the elemental side of their power. All of a sudden though Ashland, who everyone simply knew as the fire user collapsed right in the middle of an attack and Soketh quickly covered for her, fortunately by that time the enemy was also in the process of retreating and Soketh had people follow them to make sure they left

"Sorry about that, I wasn't expecting to tire out so easily"

"I think I know why that happened though because normally you'd be tearing after them unfortunately due to the fact that you've only just been out of carbonite for two days and traveling pretty much immediately after you were freed you're pretty tired"

"But wait I've heard of carbonite freezing and it doesn't normally sap you of energy like that"

"Well, she's been in carbonite for seventy years, tack on the fact that she was almost dead when she was put in the carbonite and we have the situation we're currently in now"

"Wait seventy years?"

That got all the Jedi thinking and it also clicked for them at the same time too


	3. Chapter 3

"Wait she's Portland?!"

"Yes that's my name alright, so I guess you've heard of me?"

"Mostly in history lessons, why does your Force signature feel so weird?"

"I have absolutely no idea, all I know is that things have changed in the past seventy years and my control needs to be regained so that I'm not a hazard to anyone"

"Still what you managed to do today was impressive, Soketh what we've been feeling recently does this mean we're about to reveal ourselves?"

"Could be, but I want Portland to check herself due to the fact that she is a Force Trouble indicator"

"Oh there's at least one more Force Trouble indicator now?"

"Yes there is, but he's only a Padawan at the moment and he's highly inaccurate"

"If you can tell me what the inaccuracy is I might be able to explain what's going on"

"Mostly the timing but also the location a few times"

"That's strange I've been inaccurate about timing before but not by much and never the location, and really the inaccuracy in timing is the urgency that something needs taken care of"

"Wait are you telling me the Padawan may not be a true Force Trouble indicator?"

"I don't know, I would have to meet him to really determine such a thing"

"Wait how would you know something the Council doesn't?"

(Sighs) "I know it's hard to believe but I would recognize another Force Trouble indicator if there is one on the spot, you see back when I had a mental breakdown in Starfleet because I was the only Jedi at the time I went into a deep meditation I hadn't been in ever, even when I realized I was a Force Trouble indicator I hadn't gone that deep. The Force wanted me that deep so that I could start a healing process that was needed between me and the Force because I hadn't really had a chance to meditate until that point. During the three month period where I simply meditated instead of telling the Admiralty about the Republic the Force started explaining things to me I guess you could say and that included what I was now capable of as a Force Trouble indicator. You see when I first became a Force Trouble indicator I was too overwhelmed and the Force protected me in making sure that I only knew the basics of my abilities, and that was it. By the time I had the mental breakdown I was strong enough to handle more information about my abilities and at the time I actually needed the information to help me cope with being alone and that's when I discovered I would be able to detect a fellow Force Trouble indicator just by sight"

"I see, well for now you need to regain control and we still have things to do before we truly join in the battle once more"

"Agreed, and we need to find out about those Separatists because I get the feeling that those weren't the Separatists that the Republic has come to know, they're more like the old Separatists that the Republic fought during the Clone Wars"

"Which means the group right before the Republic became an Empire"

"Exactly, I think we're going to find some very interesting information once we leave the planet. Soketh what about the  _New Hope_  can she fly?"

"Those engines haven't been fired up in seventy years, the weapons systems were shut down after we faked our deaths, and even without all those issues the hull has been exposed to this planets atmosphere for these past seventy years and that's without the unintentional crash, the last time I checked it was rusted out in five different places and the nacelles were buried under five feet of dirt and snow, and the patches weren't doing to good either"

"But if we fix the hull and weapons systems will she fly?"

"I have absolutely no idea because like I said those engines haven't been fired for seventy years I just don't know how the warp core will handle such power after all this time"

"There's also the fact that the ship has basically become a home for everyone here, the town is built around the ship"

"Look I'm not saying it will be easy but we have to start fighting back and you guys know it think about what you're feeling through the Force and you'll find that I'm correct. Now then I will be doing a lot of meditation over the next several days to regain my control of the Force so if you'll excuse me I need to find a place to meditate"

"Fine, by the way could one of you explain how you made using your elemental powers like a dance routine?"

"That's actually an easy explanation, we've practiced our abilities to the point where they're instinctual kind of like with the Force, you guys have the ability to do the same but you don't put in the practice hours needed to use your elemental abilities like you use the Force"

"Oh by the way Soketh remember my stupid move rule?"

"Yeah what of it?"

"We're going to be throwing it out the window for a bit because if what you've said is true then what we're going to be doing to get the  _New Hope_  back into space can be considered multiple stupid moves at once"

"Kind of figured that was the case when you mentioned finally getting back in the fight, but first you need to regain your control"

"No problem Soketh, and once we're back with the Republic I am going to submit myself to Republic medical attention to figure out what that long sleep did to me if anything"

"Agreed, with your change in Force signature who knows what else that carbonite sleep might have done, especially because it was combined with bacta"

"Bacta that entered burns too according to history"

"Oh hadn't thought of that"

"For now though, like both of you said Ashland needs to regain her control of the Force before we can truly be effective"

Ashland leaves and simply meditates for a solid week while everyone else continued doing what they had been doing before Ashland arrived, but many of the people weren't satisfied that the newcomer wasn't being made to work

"How come the newcomer isn't being forced to work, we know that they can fight using fire but still after all that they aren't working like we are"

"There's a reason behind that and for the record you guys got lucky in regards to her fire ability because that was uncontrolled power"

"Uncontrolled?"

"Exactly, at the moment she's meditating as much as possible to regain control as quickly as possible"

"Fine, we'll leave her alone, for now"

A week after Ashland starts meditating she emerges and everyone could tell her confidence level had increased at least ten fold and the Jedi could tell even more, they could tell that her control was back, there were still things a bit off about her but they realized that only a true medical exam would reveal everything that they needed to know

"Okay everyone gather around a minute because there's something I need to talk to you guys about"

"What is it leader?"

"Most everyone has grown up on this planet but we're about to head into space"

"Say what?"

That's when Ashland speaks up

"The town you've built has actually been built around what's known as a spaceship which means once we fix things we can survive in space"

"This won't be easy by any means and there might be several failures before success but for those that have been wanting to be more in the action that's what us going into space is going to do"

"Wait you mean we're finally going to take the fight to the enemy instead of the enemy bringing the fight to us?"

"That's exactly what I mean"

"Let's do it, we can always learn how to live on another planet"

"Okay, we're going to have to level the town first so that we have access to the ship"

"Wait Soketh when you said the town was built around the ship I didn't think you meant that literally"

"Why do you think town hall is so big?"

"Okay then we have our work cut out for us"

"Well with your fire abilities we now have a proper means of welding patches"

"When this is over that ship is going to get a complete overhaul that we'll know will last"

"I'll be right behind you on that insistence Portland"

"Think the Republic Starfleet will believe our signature?"

"Who knows considering it's been so long"

"Not to mention the fact that our signature probably isn't in the system anymore because of how long it's been"

"We'll simply have to wait and see, now then time to start getting the ship free and then we're going to have to make some major repairs"

They eventually free the ship from it's confines and that's when Ashland realizes just how much work outside was needed. When she went inside she realized that the inside of the ship needed just as much work if not more

"Soketh, next time you mention that the ship needs work don't forget about the inside of the ship"

"Sorry I didn't realize it was that bad, after we evacuated seventy years ago we never went back inside, even I haven't seen the inside of the ship since the last of the salvage supplies were off the ship"

"Well the outside of the ship takes precedence right now but after that we're working on the inside of the ship until it's livable again"

"Why don't we do both, you have water users available and they have no clue how a ship is supposed to look like inside, after I get the major work done the group can help finish the inside of the ship"

"Okay let's tell everyone that plan"

"Let's hope they understand our reasoning"

"Agreed"

Everyone fortunately did understand their reasoning especially the most recent Jedi that came because they actually had been inside a few of the ships and they knew that only a Starfleet officer would know how things worked. Three months later everyone was doing some finishing touches on the inside of the ship seeing as how the outside had been fully fixed, well to the best of their abilities anyways because the nacelles would never be the same after all the damage they had taken over the years due to weather and all of the patches looked like patches but they would hold long enough for them to reach Coruscant at least, so long as they didn't go past warp three. They also only barely had any phasers on them and no torpedoes so if there was a fight they would have to rely heavily on the phasers and their shields which were somehow the strongest of the three defense systems working

"Okay how is it our shields are working to full capacity when we can barely get the phasers to work?"

"No clue Portland unless there was an activated Sentinel protocol that you made and didn't realize it had been activated"

"Not possible all Sentinel and Jedi protocols are voice command. I deliberately designed them that ways so that one isn't activated by an enemy that has taken over a ship"

"Well either way it's time to get back into space and fight back, starting with the Separatist group that attacked us"

"We don't even know where they are"

"Actually I just received a report from some scouts that left, without permission I might add, and they followed the ships that escaped back to their hideout and they're Federation born people, and they're not part of the Federation rebellion either"

"Okay then that's where we'll make our debut then"

"What about calling for help?"

"That might work, if not for the fact that this ship hasn't been flown in seventy years which means it may or may not be in ship registries and even then they might not believe it's from us"

"Especially since most everyone else from the original crew is dead, the only two that some people  _might_  remember is me and Soketh, and for me since I'm a normal human...or well supposed to be a normal human I should be dead by now, either that or really, really old. As for Soketh the only thing they'll have on Vulcans is the archives"

"There's also the fact that the only reason Jedi will recognize them is their Force signature, you see all Jedi are trained to recognize those two signatures no matter how strange it may seem because they've never been in the Temple as far as anyone remembers. However the message that Ashland left the Council with is passed on to each Council and if deemed important to any Jedi leaving for a mission, even though there were recorded reports from both a Starfleet vessel and a Republic vessel in the area at the time of the destruction of the  _New Hope_ "

"Because of the fact that I left a message that we might actually be alive despite what the reports say?"

"Exactly, they've held onto that hope for seventy years and now their hopes can be realized and the Federation mission is exactly the kind of mission we should debut on"

"Do you know if they passed my message onto the Senate?"

"That we have no clue about, but if they did then the Senate certainly didn't pass it on to Starfleet"

"Then they might not have but who knows maybe certain people are ignorant but those of rank are not but they don't say anything because they don't know if or when it will be pertinent"

"That's a possibility that we'll simply have to wait and find out about"

"Either way we still have a few things left to do before we leave this planet and then we're going to make sure that Federation presence is no longer a factor except when it comes to Starfleet"

"Soketh do you think the Federation section of Starfleet would have approved of a Republic section of Starfleet if they were around?"

"I honestly have no idea Portland, but to be honest it was the best suggestion everyone had at the time to keep Starfleet going. After all we have no information from the Federation rebellion anymore and who knows if a Starfleet academy exists there, if there isn't then what we have in the Republic will be the only schooling Starfleet will have something to be based on"

"And they're more focused on the fighting side of things then the peaceful side of things"

"But only because of this prolonged war and who knows they might have used what Starfleet sent to the Republic back when you first arrived home in the  _Texas_  as a basis for what to teach in the Academy"

"True enough, true enough"

"For now though we have other worries to think about"

"Right, we still have some things to prepare like you said and then we have to free the Federation once and for all before we even think about the Academy situation"

(Sighs) "I get the feeling that our lives are about to get really complicated"

"Sorry but you can blame me for that if you want seeing as how I wasn't here until just now"

"No you're not to blame and neither is the Force really it's just that with this ship going into battle for the first time in seventy years politics are going to get involved and politics are always really complicated messes to begin with, this ship returning is going to bring complicated mess to a whole new level, especially because everyone is  _supposed_  to be dead according to official reports"

"Okay so we're complicating things a bit, not like no one knew that way back in the beginning, though by the way Soketh did you ever explain the situation to the Captain properly after the crash?"

"Yes actually I did and he realized why it had to be that way and supported me to the end"

"At least you had support while I was, gone, for lack of a better term"

"Yeah there were days when I really appreciated that, now then let's finish things up and then get this ship underway for the first time in seventy years"

"Right"

They quickly finish the work and soon they were ready to go into space, everyone was in place when the ship left the surface of the planet for the first time in seventy years, ever since they had landed on the planet that long ago. Soon enough they were actually in space and everyone who had never seen such a sight before were in awe of it

"So this is what space looks like"

"Yes it is, now then remember what training we've given you, but don't worry if need be Soketh and I can take control of the ship no problem"

"Good because what you gave us was a crash course and I don't think we succeeded in learning everything quick enough for a real battle"

"We know that and aren't really expecting much, all we expect is your best under the circumstances"

"What will happen after you meet up with Coruscant?"

"That I have no idea about yet, most likely the ship will be decommissioned but if it's not it will probably be taken out of service until trained people can take over the command of this ship and depending on the current situation that might take a bit of time"

"There's also the fact that Portland and I might be required to re-train after all this time especially Portland because she's been in carbonite sleep for seventy years"

"But she's back in shape according to the Jedi, though she still feels off to them as well"

"That's exactly why I need re-training because I might technically be back in shape but we have no clue what's going on with me right now and it might slowly affect all the work I've put in to get back into the shape I am now, and to be honest I'm not completely up to regular Starfleet standards forget the Sentinel standards that I set way back when I was an Academy student, even if that was done in secret"

"Wait you're not up to standards? You're so good at the moment one would think otherwise"

"I know but standards are standards as it is I barely pass for a first year cadet just starting my hand to hand combat"

"Nope second year remember that there was a qualification change while you were thought dead the last time?"

"Oh yeah thanks for reminding me Soketh, and then there's the fact that we have no idea what the qualifications are anymore because a lot has changed over the past seventy years"

"Well first task is to take care of the Federation issue and then reveal ourselves to others along the way"

As it would turn out the Republic had discovered the Federation spies as well and had also decided to attack the planet. The  _New Hope_  had arrived at basically the same time as the Republic so they managed to slip through undetected initially but once on the ground they were recognized as outsiders, though the clones also recognized that some of them were Jedi due to the fact that they had lightsabers and any clone separated from their group joined up with the unidentified Jedi and started obeying their orders


	4. Chapter 4

"We've got to find a way to turn this situation around Portland!"

"I know Soketh and I think I have a way but it's going to get very messy and to most people very shocking as well"

"Your Wookie/human hybrid transformation?"

"Exactly"

"Well if it's absolutely needed"

"It's needed"

Ashland's transformation had been documented before her sleep but she had never really used it so seeing her in that form was a rare treat that these people were going to get, though they didn't quite know that yet. Once she did transform everyone looked at her like she was a new creature for the Federation side but for the Republic side everyone was getting a sudden update except for the Jedi. As it turned out the theory that the Jedi had passed the message Portland had left behind on to the Senate and the Senate had passed that message on to Starfleet, but only to those in command positions were correct, but now that Portland had transformed in front of everyone those in charge of the Republic vessels and Starfleet vessels realized that everyone on the ground needed this information immediately so that she wasn't shot by her allies. Her transformation also meant that the Republic now realized that the  _New Hope_  was back in action and they quickly managed to ID the ship and what they saw was a ship that was patched up but functional...for the moment

"Alright everyone help the Wookie/human hybrid"

Finally the battle ended and Ashland became normal again, and was quickly covered by her uniform jacket

"That's the one downside to your transformation Portland and you know it and by the way I felt your pain when you transformed"

"That's because I hadn't done it in a while...and just how did you feel my pain?"

"Our connection is back"

"When did that happen?"

"Uh...I have no idea to be honest"

"Well for now everyone knows that we're alive so we're going to have a major report to do when we get back to Coruscant"

"Correction  _I_ have a major report to do when we get back to Coruscant  _you've_  been asleep for seventy years which means I'm the one with all the information not you"

"Okay you win that one"

"Thought I might"

"And I think I need to start thinking about getting a new uniform because I only just barely remembered to remove the jacket. In an emergency I might not have a chance"

"Except you have to remove the jacket to put blood on the tattoos"

"Oh yeah I forgot about that"

"Figured you had"

"Yep, now then I think there are some people who want to talk to us in the meantime"

The teams on the ground demanded basic explanations mentioning that both the Council and the Senate would both need a more detailed report

"Not to mention our version of Starfleet Command"

"Don't worry I knew that from the beginning and I've been writing down a major debrief from the start, everyone from the original crew kept writing down reports until their deaths and I even documented when each member of the original crew and those that joined in later died. Portland doesn't have a report at all because she's only been awake for about six months"

"Actually I've also been writing reports since I woke up"

"Okay then we both have reports but hers aren't as detailed as mine"

"No kidding you have seventy years to report she only has a few months"

Then a Jedi makes a blunt observation and statement

"You feel different from what we've been taught, not by much but it's still different"

"Yeah, I need to undergo medical observation because we have no clue how the bacta/carbonite sleepaffected me and that's the suspicion we're going under"

"Okay you're going to be looked at by the Healers once we get back to Coruscant"

"Fine by me I was going to demand that anyways"

"Oh and we're demanding a complete overhaul as well"

"Sorry but you guys aren't going to be getting an overhaul"

"But..."

"With your ship in that condition you're going to be getting a new ship, your old ship will be decommissioned after you guys arrive at Coruscant but it will not be able to be overhauled correctly there's too much damage"

"Makes sense I guess"

"In the meantime we're bringing that ship back home with honors period the end of it, and both Soketh and Portland are going to be undergoing training again after a medical check up"

"How long will that take?"

"It will depend on an assessment you'll both take after you're medically cleared but if Soketh has kept up his training and naturally before your sleep you kept up yours I think you'll only really have to familiarize yourself with the new shuttle craft that Starfleet has and the new x-wings that the Republic has...oh and an up to date hand to hand combat session because there's been some slight changes in that but that's all really"

"What about history?"

"That part won't change until we reunite with the Federation"

"Okay makes sense then...so about six months at the Academy all things depending?"

"Exactly, but once we're back with the Federation we're going to demand you go through proper re-training...actually forget the re-training part you're going back into active duty as soon as you're cleared, but no handling the shuttles or x-wings"

"What about flying the ships?"

"That part hasn't changed actually so you're good on that...for the moment but like I said once we're reunited with the Federation you're going to be going major re-training"

"Works for me, now then to Coruscant and medical and then...we're attacking the Federation head on and going to the central location of where this whole mess began, where their central operations currently are and we're going to be picking up whatever resistance groups are left at the same time"

"So where are we headed?"

"Earth"

"But that's not where the trouble started"

"You're right it's not, but Earth is the closest, there's something no one told you Soketh about the planet the trouble was discovered on, it wasn't far from Earth like you were told instead it was right outside what the Borg call sector 001"

"But why head to Earth then?"

"Because the enemy quickly moved to Earth" (sighs) "I need you to understand something, the enemy we're fighting were originally two different groups that combined into one, though this is a little known fact, one group promised to return when I remembered them because I was captured by terrorists back in my Academy days, I was their prisoner for three months only for them to wipe my memories of them until the day they returned. The other group was on the planet you guys were told about that had a really big base, we Jedi even have a code for it"

"You received a code Death Star I forgot about that part of our Jedi history"

"Exactly, what I never told Starfleet Command, mainly because while I remembered them I didn't remember everything I had learned during those three months of captivity, was that the group was based on Earth, so when the two groups became one Earth became their base making us lose Starfleet Command forcing them to move and go underground"

"Okay then Earth it is"

"But first there are some people who need medical clearance and also a new ship with new comrades"

Two days later they were back on Coruscant and most of them were on the planet for the first time in their lives while others were returning after a period of time, the two who held the record for the longest time away was of course Soketh and Ashland

"Welcome home you two"

"No we're not home...not yet anyways"

"Actually for me this is home, but the Federation is also my home"

"Portland you need a more extensive check then Soketh according to our records"

"Yes I do"

"After that both of you have reports to hand in, Soketh you don't have to give a long debrief your written report will suffice for detail but we need an edited report first because it's going to take a while to sift through seventy years of information"

"I understand"

They quickly report to medical and that's when they make some interesting discoveries about Ashland

"You heal ten times as fast and your aging rate is really slow as well"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Easy for every four years a regular human ages you'll now age one and in regards to healing while a broken bone might take a normal person four to six weeks to heal you'll heal in about two weeks at most and within a week at the earliest, even faster if you go into the Healing trance"

"But how's that possible?"

"The bacta combined with the carbonite, this was never noticed before because while people have been put in the bacta/carbonite system it was never for this long and they also didn't have open wounds or if they did they weren't as severe as yours had been"

"There's something else we noticed in your blood results but we're going to have to bring in Soketh to get those answers"

Soketh goes into the room and realizes he's busted

"Let me guess you noticed the abnormalities in her blood and want some answers from me"

"Exactly"

(Sighs) "I need everyone to understand one thing first, when I did what I did it was out of desperation and even though I should have gotten Portland's consent there wasn't any time when the event happened"

"What are you talking about?"

"You're journey to the bacta/carbonite sleep wasn't as smooth as we've led most people to believe, the medics were supposed to get the medical report within the next two days from the Council but these tests have brought up the issue much earlier. You may recall giving me certain information before you lost consciousness and that would have meant you immediately being put into the carbonite half of the equipment normally, unfortunately that day things weren't normal. We almost lost you that day, you needed a blood transfusion but unfortunately what we had available wasn't going to work, technically even my blood shouldn't have been an option except for one reason"

"T'vran, when we formed the family bond"

"Exactly, because of that fact even though the bond was now dormant due to his death it modified your makeup just enough to accept Vulcan blood, so long as the Vulcan was healthy enough to do so. No one but the doctor knew about it though so she had to reveal the secret to the Captain and he said that it was up to me to make the decision, you see Portland doesn't have a designated medical proxy in the normal sense of the word"

That's when one of the healers spoke up because they had never really heard of that word before because with the Jedi the Master gave permission for the student while the student gave permission for the Master these days, for Knights and Masters without students the Council was the convening authority and basically all Jedi were treated whenever they came in conscious or not

"Medical proxy?"

"Okay I guess things are different for the Jedi, but a medical proxy is someone in the Federation, and maybe the Republic depending on if regular doctors do this, who has the authority to make medical decisions for someone if they are physically or mentally incapable of doing so"

"The Captain...both the Captain and the doctor on board the ship or station I serve is my medical proxy I completely forgot about that"

"Exactly, but this time he didn't feel right to make that decision without my input because of just how complicated the situation had become with this secret revealed. Ultimately as you guys can see I agreed to the blood transfusion and gave her what blood I could so that she could survive the process"

" _That's_  why our mental link was reestablished so easily"

"Exactly, I was planning on telling you before this but we were so busy and you never needed medical attention and I ultimately forgot until now"

"Which is interesting because of you being a Vulcan and Vulcans have excellent memory"

"Yeah well go figure"

"This could wind up being dangerous for the two of us though Portland, you do realize that right?"

"Yes I know, this kind of bond is more dangerous then the bond I had with T'vran but it's worth the risk in my mind, and you believed it worth the risk in your mind when you agreed to do the blood transfusion otherwise you wouldn't have done so"

"You're right but still to go through that pain again only next time..."

"Next time knowing it's permanent I know but you made the choice seventy years ago Soketh I didn't but even I know how to deal with the consequences of such a bond"

That's when the healers take over again

"Well besides that you're perfectly healthy so you're cleared for duty"

Ashland and Soketh do a quick debrief with the Jedi Council who decide to test them to make sure that they could handle fighting and then the next day they were at a Senate meeting for the first time in seventy years to try and figure out their next move


	5. Chapter 5

"Portland I know that there's a distance limit but can't you get any feelings about the Federation?"

"Not at the moment Soketh because like you said there's a distance limit"

"Think we should speak up about our plan?"

"Not yet don't forget everyone thinks we're dead, well okay not everyone but this is being broadcast live to the citizens of Coruscant and only the Senate knows about us, not to mention they most likely won't like the plan at all"

"Well all their other plans have failed so we might as well go for a direct attack"

"Well for now let's pay attention shall we?"

The two stay out of sight for the moment hearing about their plans for the Federation and they were basically the same old plans as before which had prolonged the war as long as it had been

(Sighs) "I can't take this anymore Soketh let me talk"

"Fine, but for the record I think you might shock the Senate as well because while they got your message I don't think the Council has told them about you waking up yet"

"True but the military commanders might have done that"

"...I forgot about them"

"Exactly"

Ashland quickly moves the dias to the center to speak up

"Honorable Chancellor, Senators your plans haven't worked so far so I suggest a direct attack picking up any resistance members along the way to Earth so that we can end this war once and for all"

"And who might you be?"

"First Junior Sentinel Ashland Portland at your service Chancellor"

Ashland says that with a slightly exaggerated bow but everyone could tell her words were sencire

"If history is correct Sentinel Portland died seventy years ago, but that is public history, according to the history known to the Senate Sentinel Portland is still in carbonite sleep so how is it possible you're her?"

"Did your commanders not tell you about the battle against the Federation that took place near the core worlds? I would think they would have let you know that the most recent Federation threat has been dealt with"

"We never receive any more than a general report from the commanders, even I as Chancellor don't get such detailed reports due to how much fighting is going on at the moment"

(Sighs) "I guess there's only one thing left to do to prove my identity then Sentinel program Alpha 29 authorization Portland 7 Alpha 2 Omega Omega 9 activate"

All of a sudden comm systems were shut off and the doors were closed. The program Ashland had activated was a basic security program that kept everyone in the main Senate meeting room safe but unable to communicate with the outside world for three hours unless deactivated so that any bombs in place couldn't be activated by a signal from comm units accidentally

"Deactivate program...is that proof enough Chancellor or do you need more?"

Everyone knew that Ashland was not mocking the Chancellor even if it seemed like it but they were also in shock because they hadn't heard that authorization used in such a long time they thought it a dream still

"How is this possible?"

"That Chancellor is a long story"

"Is Sentinel Soketh with you?"

"Yes he is"

"Then your forcible exile is over after all this time, the Force told you it was time to reveal yourselves"

"Yes it did"

"Then welcome back Sentinels Portland and Soketh"

"Thank you Chancellor, now then about your plans, they won't work but mine have the greatest chance of working to end this war before any more lives are lost"

"You'll lose more lives in a direct attack though"

"No we won't, you're forgetting Chancellor that you've been playing this cat and mouse game for so long that the Federation doesn't know your true strength...yes at first a direct attack was out of the question but not now, we might even be able to regain communication with any resistance still active in the Federation"

"But we haven't had contact with them in twenty years"

"I know, but it's worth a shot isn't it?"

"We'll discuss this plan later for now though we need a recess to eat and digest this new information"

Ashland leaves it at that but everyone could tell that she was frustrated with the Senate, even her fellow Jedi gave her a wide berth after she returned to the Temple along with a few clones

"So the Temple  _was_  attacked seventy years ago like my vision foretold"

"Wait you knew that an attack was going to happen seventy years ago?

"Yes, you see at the time the Force first showed me the clones and Jedi working together seemlessley even though there's bad history between the two groups with good reason, so for me to see a major battle taking place with the Jedi giving the clones orders and the clones obeying the orders no problems I realized something must have happened that allowed the Jedi to trust the clones despite past history, because the clones wouldn't gain trust quickly normally because of order 66 in the past. The clones also wouldn't trust the Jedi because they know their history as well and would wonder why they should trust the Jedi to behave and give them orders correctly when the Jedi have no trust in them, it was overall a really bad situation for the two groups. Shortly before my sleep though I received another vision which showed an attack on the Temple which would force the two groups to put aside their differences and trust each other to get out of the situation forging a bond that would last however long clones were made and the war lasted at the very least"

"Yes the enemy attacked and both groups had to trust each other to survive, after that day we simply knew that things were different and we've had no problems ever since. There are clones stationed to the Temple just in case though they're rotated every six months if at all possible. Not because this posting is stressful since we can take care of ourselves easily enough but because back when this whole mess started clones got mental fatigue after staying at a post that was hit hard every single day at other posts and since we can take care of ourselves at need the Senate decided to rotate the clones stationed at the Temple to give the other clones a small break, but there's a system and order to the rotation so that there are at least a few clones used to the routine at any given time just in case"

"Post Traumatic Stress Disorder"

"Exactly, there have been a few instances where a clone will have a physical flashback and forget where he is thus attacking at random. Each time that has happened they are scanned to make sure it's not a repeat of a premature order 66 happening like the last time and it's not, it's simply a soldier who's seen too much and has forgotten where he is in the midst of simple training"

"Okay, now then I need to know if Soketh and I have a place to sleep for a few days seeing as how we currently don't have a ship to serve on"

"Don't worry there's plenty of rooms available for you and Soketh, over the past seventy years we've had to take in civilians on occasion so the Temple's undergone some modifications so that we can do so with ease"

"Okay works for me"

"Oh and as far as we know the Sentinel uniform hasn't changed much over the years"

"Much?"

"We'll have to let the Starfleet officers show you the newer uniforms at some point"

"OK works for me"

Two days later the ship they would serve under arrived and that's when they got a look at the new uniforms

"The uniforms don't look any different"

"From a distance they wouldn't but look closer and you'll see the differences"

As soon as Ashland and Soketh looked closer they did see the differences. The sleeves could come off as could the bottom part of the pants, and the material felt different too, and of course the cloaks could come off as always

"So what's with the material change?"

"We modified the materials because of you Portland, we realized that we might have other shape shifters at some point so the Founders that were stuck in the Republic found a way to have their shape changing abilities combine with a fabric, you no longer have to worry about ruining a uniform...at least in theory"

"Looks like it still needs a practical test then"

"Yes because so far we've had no shape shifters like you so we haven't been able to test it, the sleeves being able to be taken off will give you easier access to your tattoos"

"Good, but first my tattoos need to be reapplied because as you can tell they are heavily damaged and I need those tattoos to be able to control my transformation"

"Okay that's something I don't understand how can tattoos control your transformation?"

"Soketh has probably felt that I haven't truly gone all out in the Force since I woke up, the reason why is because if I don't control how much of the Force I am using I will simply turn into my Wookie/human hybrid form, either that or go super fast. This is because of the drug that was entered into my system when I was captured and tortured because of a traitor, a Jedi Healer suggested special tattoos be put on my arms so that I could control the transformation with my blood, however I got second degree burns and now my arms are scarred and rough and unfortunately the tattoos were affected as well"

"Is anyone qualified to redo the tattoos?"

"Not as far as I know and I asked the Healers about it too, they're currently looking to see if there is someone with that qualification, but until I can control my abilities again I can't take that risk"

"Then we might as well stay here until we know if the tattoos can be redone"

"The Council said they should have an answer within a week"

"Okay, in the meantime we're going to be doing drills to make sure that the crew is truly integrated, especially because we've never had Sentinel's or Jedi serving on board this ship"

"Why not?"

"I honestly have no idea because I've requested a Sentinel two times now and whenever there's a mission for the Jedi I request to take them to and from where their mission is but with no such luck until now"

"But why would...oh I think I know why but it's a bit complicated"

"If you have to say it has to do with the Force just say it has to do with the Force"

"Um it doesn't have to do with the Force directly so I can't say that"

"Well in the meantime don't you have a kid to see about Portland? I think I heard that he was coming back with his master today"

"Right, the Council wanted me to see about him because of his inaccuracies"

So Ashland went back to the Temple and as soon as Ashland saw the Padawan and the Padawan saw Ashland they knew and recognized each other as indicators and without really noticing it gave each other a sign as to what they indicated, it would also become a universal greeting between indicators

"No wonder they thought you were a Force Trouble indicator"

"I know, unfortunately up to this point I wasn't sure how to explain myself not even to my Master"

"That's because you've never had something to compare it to unfortunately, hello Planetary Trouble indicator Drew"

"Hello Force Trouble indicator Portland"

"It's no wonder your timing and planets are off though, not only is your ability seriously under trained but because the planet is indicating possible trouble and the Force is indicating a different kind of trouble you're getting mixed signals from the planet and the Force about where and when something might happen"

"I've been using meditation to try and fix the inaccuracy but so far it hasn't worked"

"That's because you need to meditate with a Force Trouble indicator or a different indicator to gain full control over your abilities, mainly because of the confliction between the Force and the planet calling for help"

"Does this mean I'll have a training bond with you?"

"No nothing beyond our meditation period will link us, the Force doesn't want Trouble indicators linked like that because of the fact that if we lose one indicator there's a good possibility that we could lose the other"

"Then why are you and Soketh..."

"Ah you sensed that about me, which isn't a good thing all things considered"

"I know now then about that question"

"Don't ask me because I don't question the Force and to be honest if you're to gain full control over your abilities you can't question the Force either"

"Oh...I didn't know it was the Force that made you guys connect like that I just feel that you're connected, that something might happen and I am  _really_  starting to get annoyed at everything flowing into my mind at once it's giving me a headache"

(Sighs) "I think you and I need to first do an emergency meditation session before I do a meditation session that will allow you to control your abilities, that is if your Master will allow it"

"Emergency meditation session...but that hasn't been done in decades!"

"I know, it's been about fifty years since the last time it was done correct?"

"Yes but how do you know about that?"

"The Council and the Force both gave me that information...don't ask just please don't ask"

"Master what's an emergency meditation session? I've never heard of one before"

"That's because you won't hear of such techniques until you're a Knight for the most part and Portland knows the dangers of such a technique too, she was taught that when she became a Knight herself"

"Yes I did, and it would have saved me a lot of trouble and possibly a mental breakdown if I had been able to do an emergency meditation session while I was alone at Starfleet Academy"

"That still doesn't answer my question"

"An emergency meditation session is a session where a more experienced Jedi cuts a younger Jedi from the Force for a period of time to be determined by the person initiating the session. This process is very painful and also extremely dangerous because being cut off from the Force like that can kill someone but it can also lead to mental problems as well, thus the reason why it's called an emergency meditation session because all of this happens when both parties are meditating and connecting to each other through the Force"

"There's also dangers to the person initiating such a session as well, if they're not careful they can accidentally cut themselves off from the Force as well and as such be unable to help the person they were originally trying to help in the first place, in fact the main reason why the younger is cut off from the Force is because the older person basically has full control over the younger persons Force ability as well as their own, however such an overload can kill them and if that happens there are worse consequences because such power can make a person...explode for lack of a better word though it's not a physical explosion but an explosion felt through the Force and all of a sudden for a very brief moment everyone but the person that has the session done to them within the vicinity will feel ten times stronger then normal and that strength can actually get a Jedi killed if it's felt at the wrong moment"

"If you're cutting me off from the Force then why not simply use a Force inhibitor?"

"If it was only that simple, normally for your situation I would simply just give you a Force inhibitor but unfortunately for you it's more complicated then you think"

"I've been exposed to Starfleet Force inhibitors before"

"That's all well and good but you're reasoning is not my reasoning"

"Well I think you simply don't want me to have an inhibitor because you want to meditate with me and use my Force power to help yourself even if you eventually give me back my control"

"Actually that's not the case at all, and thus the reason why you can't have an inhibitor this time, you're getting so much different conflicting emotions that the inhibitor won't work and might actually do more harm then good, I've  _had_  that kind of headache before and I almost killed myself with a Starfleet Force inhibitor, unfortunately for me I didn't have the support you have so I remained in a coma for two weeks and I'm lucky I came out of it at all, after that I realized that I would never be able to take a Force inhibitor again whenever I felt that strong of a headache because the next time it happens I could kill myself. If I'm not overwhelmed then yes I can have an inhibitor but if I'm overwhelmed like you are it's not possible and I don't want you to go through the same thing I did, now then Drew it's time for the session until I feel you can cope with the Force again and then we're going to make sure you gain control over your ability"

The two quickly go to a secluded area and Ashland initiates the emergency meditation session which they stay in the meditation period for over an hour before Ashland opens her eyes and the Padawan also opens his eyes in shock

"Now then, like I said this is only temporary until things calm down slightly, this shouldn't last more than an hour which means you're really lucky. In the meantime avoid any training area especially if it involves the Force but that's the only restriction I have for you"

An hour later Ashland ends the emergency meditation session with Drew and then together they make sure that Drew now has control over his abilities

"There you should be able to distinguish things much easier then before, though there will still be times you might be off especially in regards to the timing because you might feel a planet is in danger through the Force but you might not know exactly when the danger will come to pass. As a Force Trouble indicator I can detect pretty much where and when trouble will strike a place and I can also determine which danger needs my more immediate attention and which can wait a bit or have someone else handle the problem before it explodes on us, as a Planet Trouble indicator you can tell which planets are either currently in or will be in trouble but unfortunately for you you will have a harder time distinguishing how immediate the trouble will be and when because the fact that a planet is or will be in trouble will always be stronger in the front of your mind. When you do sense a planet in trouble you're going to have to alert the Council and have them meditate with you so that everyone can determine what needs to be done at the moment. This means that even if you ever wanted to join Starfleet that will now never be possible because you'll never have the full control over your emotions when it comes to planets in danger that you will need in Starfleet"

"I understand, so the Council thing is basically a step I will have to take to make sure I don't just charge into the rescue when it's not needed"

"Exactly, well I think I want to see some elemental training which I can tell is going on at the moment and I think you might benefit from watching that training to, but only with the approval of your Master because I have no clue what you're supposed to be doing at the moment"

Ashland then goes to the designated training area for those that have elemental abilities. This area had been created shortly after Ashland had been put in carbonite because more and more Jedi were discovering that they could also use elemental abilities and unfortunately some of the abilities were pretty destructive and dangerous in a normal training room so the Council made a designated training room where those that had water, fire and lightening abilities could train and learn what they could now do, and it was even more important now that Ashland and Soketh were back because their control and speed were now a lot faster then normal, though only Soketh and Ashland could make things look like a dance still. But that's because most of the Jedi were either still new to their abilities or they didn't practice to that point. Not because some of them didn't want to but because they couldn't due to either the mission rate they had or sometimes it was the Force stopping them from practicing that much so that they didn't hurt themselves in the process, something was telling them to wait before they trained to that limit. When Ashland arrived though she quickly used her fire abilities on an elemental user because of the stance they had taken that she recognized instantly

"Fire stream!"

Suddenly the person was attacked by flames but it was only for a brief moment, though that brief moment caused the person that was attacked to lose concentration on what they were doing and turned to the person who had made the attack which was of course Portland

"What did you do that for?"

"That's a forbidden stance you can't use that move"

"Yes I can"

"No you can't, the damage you would take from that move would be too much for you, it's even too much for me which is why I sealed that move, you shouldn't even know that stance"

"Well I found it in the hidden archives recently and only just worked my way up to this stance today because I wanted to be sure of the standard stances first"

"I already told you that's a forbidden stance because of how much damage it does to your own body, yes it's a powerful attack but if done wrong you could die, as it is when I discovered that move I broke my left leg in two places, dislocated my right shoulder and shattered the same wrist"

Everyone blinked at hearing that much damage had been done and realized that yes the move had to be forbidden to protect everyone

"What were you doing in the hidden archives anyways?"

"Force vision was showing me some things and the Council decided that the only way I would get the information I needed was to see stuff in the hidden archives, unfortunately for everyone involved I have photographic memory so even though I saw that form for only a brief moment I remember it and also unfortunately I get very curious once I see something done and want to try it for myself if at all possible, I didn't realize it was in the hidden archives because of how dangerous it was I simply thought it was a secret stance for people who used Defender's Righteous fire that no one had ever used before as far as I knew"

"Nope it's in the hidden archives because so few people have access to those archives it's deemed the safest place to keep that kind of information hidden"

"Oh, wait a minute how could you be the one to seal the move and just who are you anyways?"

"Sentinel Portland at your service"

Everyone then stares at her because they had heard of Portland's return but they had never seen her in person or even a picture and since they weren't paying attention to her Force signature they were surprised to see her


	6. Chapter 6

"Now then I want to see what's been changed since I last used my Defender's Righteous fire and I also want to finally figure out what the water and lightening users are calling their abilities"

"Sentinel Soketh actually gave the water users their name mentally, our ability is called Jedi Water while a lightening user in the early days decided to go radical and since the Sith called the lightening Force lightening he decided that our ability with lightening will be called Defender's Protective lightening, kind of like you called the fire abilities Defender's Righteous fire he wanted part of our name to be part of theirs"

"Okay so let's get in some practice"

The groups practiced for over an hour and some of them were starting to have smoother movements because the Force had finally released it's limit on training because now that Portland was back it knew that even after her death no one would push themselves to self destruction because she would help explain the dangers of practicing that many hours without properly gauging if they needed a break or not. Because yes Ashland had practiced her abilities to the point where it was a dance to her but she also knew when to limit her practice so that she didn't harm herself in the process and also knew when to forbid a move because it was too dangerous

"Okay time for a fight because you never know if someone will turn because of a Sith artifact or some other reason so we need to get used to fighting different elements if that's never been done before"

"We actually do train like that on a normal basis but it's been a while for both you and Soketh hasn't it?"

"Yes it has and for me I never really had an elemental battle because yes I taught Soketh about his abilities but I never really fought against him in training and neither has Soketh"

"Okay which do you want to fight first?"

"I'm not choosing between the elements because I'm going extreme three people with three different elements are going to be fighting me period"

"Are you insane?"

"No I'm preparing for worst case scenario" (sighs) "I think there's some explaining I need to do for you guys especially because you've never been through what I've been through, and there's also the fact that you've never been in the Federation. While it's been almost a century since I was last in the Federation I still know it better than you guys"

"Hey we know about the Federation as well"

"But only in book form you don't have the practical knowledge like I do and that's period"

Everyone looks at each other with the busted look because they realized that Ashland was right they didn't have the practical experience Ashland had, even if it was seventy years old

"So how long before you guys head to the Federation?"

"I need my tattoos fixed before we leave because otherwise I will be a danger to everyone, we lucked out the last time but we can't continue to work on luck"

"How did you guys luck out? from what I heard everything went okay the last time you went into your hybrid form"

"That's just the thing, I should have either not been able to go into my hybrid form or be unable to tell friend from foe, the thing is the tattoos only appear whenever I go full on within the Force and without limiters that makes me extremely dangerous on a normal basis"

"Oh I didn't realize that the tattoos help control you powers"

"Yes they do, thus the reason why I need my tattoos redone as soon as possible"

"For now though let's continue our training"

Two days later Ashland was called to a meeting with the Council and when she got to the room she noticed another person in their with them

"Portland, this is the medic we've finally found who can do the tattoos that help control your powers"

"Is he sure that he can do it?"

"I can, Sentinel Portland I know your history and I have also read about your case throughout my training as a tattoo artist, though it's not publicized. However I had another person who wanted tattoos to help control abilities they had that were given to them through experimentation that he did not agree to. I had never heard of such a tattoo before so I decided to do research to see if it was even at all possible and that's when I discovered your story, however I can not do what the healer at the time did. I ask that a Jedi Healer be present so that they can inbue the ink I use with the Force if that's at all possible so that we have the greatest chance of success"

"What about the other person?"

"I succeeded in helping them control their powers through ingredients I added to the ink and I also have secrets from my people that I used that also helped however the person who requested that type of tattoo wasn't Force sensitive like you are and as such I have no idea if the method I used for the other person will work for you"

"There's something else you should know Portland, there's a chance that this might not work and could actually kill you"

"You mean it could be dangerous"

"Exactly, it's your choice however"

Ashland thinks about it for a few minutes and when she looks into the eyes of the Council again they knew she had made her choice

"When can we get started?"

"Right away, however due to the unique situation we find ourselves in I want you put under sedation for this procedure"

"Isn't that counter intuitive though?"

"No actually, because normally to detect issues we need you awake however due to the fact that you're Force sensitive and will be monitored by at least one Jedi Healer I feel confident enough that if a problem arises we'll know in enough time to stop any potential damage because quite frankly doing my other persons tattoo awake was hard enough on him but for a Force sensitive who's had severe burns and can't make the tattoos appear due to the Force it might be ten times worse if you're not asleep"

"Fine, but if there are problems I want to know immediately...unless I see T'vran again"

That startles the Council because they knew for a fact that T'vran had been dead for a long time and then they remembered her private report from another time when they almost lost her due to a poison

"I think we need to have a discussion later Portland"

"I know and I will explain things after the procedure"

The group leaves and five hours later Ashland wakes up to a burning sensation in her arms that she hadn't felt the first time she had the tattoos done on her

"Okay, why are my arms burning this time?"

"That's an easy answer, some of what I use to make the ink interacts with the skin of almost all the species I tattoo for whatever reason, different races have different reactions but the most common reaction in humans is a burning sensation, it should dissipate within three hours but if it doesn't come to me and I'll see if I messed up somewhere's on the mixture"

"Makes sense then and I will most definitely do that, anything else I need to know about?"

"No everything went perfectly as far as the Healer and I could tell"

"Okay, so if no change in burning sensation after three hours come to you where will you be?"

"I'll stay here until after that time period so that you have easy access to me"

"Okay that works for me, now I need to debrief the Captain on a few things in regards to my plan"

"You mean the barge in and fight plan?"

"Yes that plan, it's the most basic plan of all but it might just work"

"What makes you think it will?"

"Easy, because the Federation is stupid, at least those currently in control of the Federation. I've read the reports and yeah the Federation and you guys have both gotten to strategic areas but the Federation has never hit critical areas like Kamino and Coruscant while the Republic has hit places like DS9, several other stations and while you've never succeeded on getting Earth if I read the reports correctly you came pretty close to get Romulus for the Republic which is pretty close to Vulcan"

"She has a point"

"Well like I said I need to do some debriefing so that's what I'm going to do"

Ashland does indeed do some debriefing and while there she thought of something she hadn't thought of before

"Captain I just thought of something though I don't know if it will work considering how long I've been asleep, Soketh can't do it just me by the way"

"What are you talking about?"

"I think I can hack the Federation before we make our assault"

"...I think I misheard you because I just thought you said that you can hack the Federation"

"Oh that's what I said"

"Okay how?"

"It's something that the Admiralty and I discussed during my Academy years. I had taken a few lessons about the security of the Federation and I realized just how vulnerable it was. When we made the Burning Galaxy Plan we discussed how part of my job once we started to fight back was to use a backdoor to implant a virus making everything they had in regards to the Federation assets useless especially if they were using Starfleet assets. Now then I wasn't able to do that seventy years ago because I was in carbonite freezing before the fighting truly began, however if no one upgraded those systems and they never discovered the hidden programming then I might be able to give us an advantage because what my hacking would do is give them a virus but it would also transfer all controls of the assets to me"

"Did the Admiralty know about that part?"

"No, mainly because of the fact that the secondary programming that gives me control was a special backup plan I thought of should the Admiralty be dead. Now then we don't know what kind of resistance is currently available in the Federation so instead of the one part virus I'm going to activate the two part virus but I don't now if I'll be successful"

"When can you do that?"

"Not for a bit because not only is there a distance limit as far as I know but there's also the fact that this invasion is supposed to be a surprise and if they lose critical systems before we're ready they'll have the advantage instead of us"

"Okay that makes sense, we'll go with your plan let's just hope it works"

"Agreed"

Finally the group heads to the Federation and Ashland is ready for when it was time to hack Starfleet systems and that's when Ashland ran into a minor complication that she would easily be able to handle

"Oh...someone's trying to back hack me, well good luck with that"

Ashland's battle lasts for several minutes but ultimately Ashland succeeds in shutting down the Starfleet systems in the Federation and putting all of them under her control. Unfortunately that meant that the Resistance that was still going strong even without contact for twenty years had nothing to work with but since it was Ashland in control they would be fine, though the resistance didn't know that at first they simply thought that they had been discovered

"And that's why you never try to back hack the programmer, it never works out inn your favor, hey Captain the system's mine, let's head to Earth while helping out where we know resistance cells are so that they know that the final battle is upon them"

"Will we also let them know that you're the reason why they lost their systems?"

"Yes, because right now they probably think they're about to be raided by the enemy having been discovered when the truth is that the calveray has arrived"

"Works for me, by the way as soon as we drop out of warp you and Soketh are flying x-wings period"

"What for?"

"Simple you guys need to be part of the action and let's face it you'll be able to protect the ship better from outside then inside, at least at the start, though once we get closer to Earth I want both of you on the ship for my peace of mind"

"Understood Captain, what about the clones?"

"Some of them are staying on the ship and others are going to be joining you"

"Copy that, let's do that in shifts though Captain so that we're not both out of the action at the same time if something happens to one of us"

"Understood, but you and Soketh will need to be the ones to figure that out, oh and I want someone to learn what exactly it is you did to the Starfleet systems so that they can work their magic whenever you're up in the sky"

"Okay that's perfectly fine with me, send down who you think will best fit the job and we'll go from their which means that Soketh is the first one in the x-wings"

"Understood I'll let Soketh know"

Ashland has five people learning what was needed in her quarters five minutes later


	7. Chapter 7

"So why an odd number of people?"

"Unfortunately we're the only ones qualified so that means we can't have three shifts a person instead it will be two shifts a person with one person as backup just in case it's needed"

"Understood, now then here's the plan and what I have in mind since we're in control of Starfleet technology that the enemy has had their hands on for seventy years"

"Wouldn't they have advanced the technology further than the Republic?"

"Maybe, however there's also a chance they didn't succeed plus the coding of the program I inserted is so discreet and prolific that it can survive upgrades in technology"

"Oh didn't know that"

"I know, now then here's what we have available"

Ashland shows the group what to do whenever she wasn't the operator and then went to get some sleep so that she wasn't completely useless while on patrol. The plan that the Captain came up was soon gaining results and the resistance that was still around after twenty years of no contact was glad that the Republic was still fighting and when they found out it was the final strike they gladly joined whatever ship they had to so that they could join in the fight whenever possible. They did have set backs naturally but soon enough they managed to free Romulus where they decided to take stock and rest for a few days because by that time they had been fighting for months on end and everyone was a little tired

"So about how much longer will this last?"

"Not much longer because I want the Federation to be free by the seventy-first anniversary of this blasted war"

"Then we're on a tight deadline aren't we?"

"Yes we are, but we can afford to rest for a few days"

"We need it to be honest"

"I know, next is Vulcan and once we have Vulcan all that's really left is Earth"

"What about the Dominion?"

"Why do you think I had the group split up in the first place after we dropped out of warp?"

"Oh to see if the Dominion is free and if it isn't then to start freeing the Dominion...but wait what about DS9? I thought that the wormhole was in front of that station"

"Oh it is which is why they had orders to make sure that the station was liberated before they tried anything and seeing as how we haven't had contact from them it's safe to assume that they either haven't arrived at the station or haven't freed the Dominion because those were their orders"

"Why didn't I know about those orders Portland?"

"Because maybe you weren't the one who needed to know about the separate group from the beginning, look Captain there's something you have to understand no one trusted my plan from the start and I knew that, however I also knew that the Dominion would be excellent allies if they were free so during the planning I discussed with the Senate splitting the rescue team up into two groups one group would free the main branch of the Federation while another group would work on the Dominion"

"Killing two birds with one stone because it would be harder for the Dominion to know that the Federation is free if they too were taken due to the wormhole then if they were free and helping us rebuild if they were too late to the party"

"Exactly, now then we also have to worry about the Klingon Empire and the Cardassian Empire because they were never part of the Federation though we had treaties with them"

"We'll worry about that later, so they're supposed to contact you when the Dominion is free?"

"Yes, there's also the situation where they find mines on the other side of the wormhole"

"Well for now let's recover our strength for the push to Vulcan and then the push to Earth"

A day before they left for Vulcan though there was an official change of plans because the Dominion hadn't stood by idly over the past seventy years of separation from either the Republic or Federation because they had mined the wormhole, however a year before Ashland was woken up they decided to start fighting back and it took until a month before the Republic was ready to fight back with Ashland's plan but the Dominion regained DS9. As soon as the Republic vessels arrived the Dominion realized that it was the final push to free the Federation so they allowed them aboard the station and explained why they hadn't moved past DS9 after freeing it. As soon as they discovered the final push and who was behind it they were definitely shocked but also glad and demanded to make contact immediately. Ashland would also receive a surprise that she wasn't expecting in the form of two old friends

"This is Sentinel Portland go ahead"

"Sentinel Portland this is Founder Odo along with Commander Data"

"Odo, Data is it really you?"

"Of course it is Sentinel, though the odds of Odo being alive after this long is..."

"Enough Commander Data I get that it's you, so where are you calling from?"

"DS9"

"Wait how long have you guys held the station?"

"We've only had it for a month Sentinel, we were making sure we were established before trying to free the rest of the Federation, how are you alive?"

"Carbonite freezing, we'll discuss that later Sentinel Soketh is also alive but you know that Vulcans are long lived so that's probably not that big a surprise for you, what exactly are your plans now that we've regrouped with each other?"

"We want you to hold off a little longer before you liberate Vulcan and then we'll go to Earth to liberate the Federation in it's entirety at once from that planet"

"Works for me, be advised if the clones start giving orders to people don't hinder them, and yes I know that you know the history of the clones but things are different this time they've been active in the Republic for seventy years and yes the Jedi trust them implicitly and don't ask me how that happened because I'm not telling you. Well as for your idea to wait for backup we'll most certainly do that just let us know how long it will take for you guys to get things set up on your end so that you can even send people and we'll be waiting"

"First of all where are you guys?"

"We're currently on Romulus Odo, taking a small break because we've been fighting for months now, along with the current resistance that's still alive"

"Okay, oh and could you tell us why we had to switch to the extremely old Cardassian computer system of the station?"

"Yeah that would be my fault, I'll explain everything in detail later but in the meantime the short explanation is I imputed a special virus way back in my Academy years into the Federation system mostly focusing on Starfleet systems and it gives me control of the entire system"

"Okay we'll see you in a few days then"

"Understood Odo"

A few days later the two groups were reunited after all this time and they made short work of freeing Vulcan along with a resistance cell which had actually been started by Spock shortly after the Burning Galaxy Plan was enacted and had been going strong for seventy years

"Okay now what?"

"Now we free Earth, and that's going to be the hardest battle of all of them because of the fact that they are so deeply entrenched on Earth because they've actually been there since before the Burning Galaxy Plan, they just didn't act until that point in time"

"What makes you say that?"

"History, I was abducted by them when I was still a cadet in the Academy, the group used to be two different groups but they became one and the group that was based on Earth was the one that captured me, unfortunately I forgot about them for a long time and by the time I remembered they were ready to act, it didn't help that even though I remembered about the group that abducted me I still didn't remember they were based on Earth"

"So they were able to strike fairly quickly and also join up with the second group"

"The group that truly helped the Burning Galaxy Plan get started because of a huge base, we Jedi even have a code for that type of base"

"What's the code?"

"Code Death Star"

"Oh, and that stands for big enemy base?"

"Exactly, and if you know the history of the Republic you'll know the reason why we gave a huge enemy base that code name"

"The fight for Earth may cost us our lives but it's going to be worth it"

"Indeed it is, though I do have a question for Commander Data"

"What is it Sentinel Portland?"

"How on Earth are you still functioning? I know for a fact that the  _Enterprise_  was one of the groups that was supposed to stay but reports were that they were destroyed heading to their final destination"

"It wasn't that easy, the ship and crew were almost killed on the way to Bajor however we succeeded in getting far enough that a Dominion patrol managed to get close enough to help with the deception. They then took us across the wormhole to the Dominion where the rest of the crew died over the years because yes the Dominion mined the wormhole but that was in the later years, we first had to be part of the battles"

"So I have a question when exactly did the Dominion join the Federation officially? I know it happened before my sleep and that I was rescued by the Dominion, but when exactly did the treaty get signed?"

"Two months before you were rescued"

"Okay then that answers my questions"

The group heads to Earth knowing what would await them in regards to a tough fight. They didn't know that they would lose an important person in the atmosphere of Earth during battle and they would almost lose two if not for something that only one person would see but would later mention in their report


	8. Chapter 8

"Soketh try and get the left side clear a little bit, the clones are a bit tied up at the moment protecting another vessel and I'm getting reports that our shields aren't holding out very well"

"I'm on it, which ship is taking up the attention of the clones?"

"Uh...that would be the medical transport that both Vulcan and Romulus insisted on coming even though we said that would be a bad idea"

"Understood use the Force to help us defend the ship?"

"That's the plan"

Suddenly though Soketh's x-wing was blown up and Ashland felt it the moment it happened

"SOKE...TH!"

All of the Jedi felt the backlash of Ashland's emotions and they feared for what could happen to her due to the loss of her partner and a few clones struggled to keep both Ashland and the ship safe until she had made a choice because as soon as Soketh was lost she didn't move from her spot

_In Ashland's mind_

"Not Soketh I can't have lost him too, not so soon after I awoke"

Suddenly Ashland saw T'vran even though she  _knew_  he had been dead for a long time

"T'vran...how is this possible?"

"Through the Force Ashland, just like when you almost died from the poison a little over seventy years ago. Ashland you know as well as I do that Soketh wouldn't want you to turn to the dark side, he knew the risks as soon as he gave you his blood through that transfusion. There's something else you should know, the Force  _wanted_  your DNA to change ever so slightly to be able to accept Vulcan blood despite you being very human, it's going to become important in the coming years though I can't tell you why. You already knew that our bond was no accident, we were meant to have the family bond, but the bond between you and Soketh went even deeper because of the blood transfusion and that was the will of the Force though Soketh himself didn't realize it. You have to go now but one thing before you do, you will see Soketh again either during meditation or during a time of trouble but it will take a while, he has some training to do first before he's able to do this and at the moment he's a bit weak due to how he died and the fact that he's been using the Force for a long period of time and he's not a Trouble indicator like yourself which automatically gives you more Force reserves then normal. See you around Ashland"

_Real world_

All the Jedi there felt a shift in the Force which they recognized however they weren't concerned even though it revolved around Ashland because the shift in the Force was Ashland accepting and letting go of her grief into the Force though they knew she would be having long talks with people in the days to come about what had happened that day and the loss of Soketh. The rest of the people didn't know about that but as soon as Ashland started fighting back they got the feeling that they hadn't lost Ashland either to darkness or grief at least for the moment

"Portland are you engaged?"

"Yeah I'm good, sorry about that where do you need me?"

"Right now we need to find a secure place to hide because we've lost our shields and are taking some major punishment and so are the other ships, Earth is a bit tougher than expected"

(Sighs) "OK I think I know of a place but we're going to have to be careful when we land because the atmosphere is not exactly the greatest but it will be the best option we have"

"Atmoshperic suits whenever we venture outside?"

"Best choice for us yeah, and we're going to have to either synthesize or scavage for materials to fix the ship because you guys have taken a beating, though not as bad as the  _New Hope_  we had to scrap"

"Hey she was a good ship but the damage she took over the seventy years was just a bit too much you know that"

"Yeah I know just miss her is all, now then do you want me back on the ship or escort still?"

"Get yourself back on the ship you need to be checked out and I need a report in person, besides some of the systems are a bit finicky and at the moment I need you to check them"

"What for?"

"Because you have Jedi reflexes if something goes wrong and most people on this ship don't"

"Understood"

Ashland was soon back on the ship and she checked out physically fine but mentally was another question however they couldn't afford to take her off duty completely so until she was cleared mentally she would be on light duty meaning doing repairs or something else that was easy. After she let medical Ashland reported to the Captain so that she could explain what had happened while she hadn't moved for those few minutes

"Okay, unless you've ready previous reports this is going to sound weird or unbelievable but while I wasn't moving I saw T'vran and he told me that Soketh was one with the Force and that I would see him again if needed but it would take a while"

"How is that possible? T'vran has been dead for a long time"

"Yes however T'vran was Force sensitive and we had a family bond between us as I'm sure you remember reading in your reports and even though he didn't undergo Jedi training he still became one with the Force after his death probably because of his strong connection to me though don't qoute me on that. After I was poisoned after my return from the death and being rescued by the Dominion while I was in the death like state I saw T'vran and he actually was the one who kept me alive, today when I saw him he was the one who helped me stay on the path of the Jedi and is also the one who has helped me cope the most in such a short period of time"

"Okay, you will have mandatory meetings with the councilor until he clears you mentally but in the meantime you will be able to help with the repairs but that's it unless your life is in danger"

"I know and understand, Captain the rest of the Jedi both felt Soketh's death in the Force and also felt my emotional backlash so I suggest some team meetings so that everyone has a better understanding of just how a Jedi handles their emotions, the people from the Republic have a better understanding then those from the Federation but still..."

"I think I get where you're going, having people from the Republic who haven't served with Jedi and people from the Federation meet with the Jedi and councilor so that there aren't any accidental misunderstandings when it comes to how Jedi mourn or even act like they aren't mourning during certain periods of time"

"Exactly, and once Earth is free I want to give Soketh a Jedi funeral"

"Where?"

"I'm not exactly sure I don't even know what's in his will so we'll go by that if we can find it"

"And if it hasn't been updated in seventy years?"

"Then we go with the seventy year old will"

"Okay, now then in the meantime it's time to start the repairs and I'm going to have you focus on the areas that need Jedi reflexes first"

"Understood, but once the ship is repaired we're having another go at Earth"

"But of course"

The repairs to several vessels were actually fairly quick because it was mainly minor structural damage, the ship that took the longest was Ashland's ship and that's only because they took the most damage but even then the ship was repaired within three months and they were basically ready for round two in regards to freeing Earth because all of them had made a vow to free Earth by the seventy-first anniversary of the war and they were going to keep it to the best of their abilities

"So is everyone ready?"

"We're ready alright, we've been ready for a long time now and we've been wanting to free Earth too so let's get to it"

"Okay then we're good to go"

The group quickly heads back to Earth and this time they actually make it past the moon. Once there all vessels that could enter and fight in Earth's atmosphere did exactly that and soon enough they freed the main Federation building and kept it free actually killing the leaders of the group that had controlled the Federation for so long which meant that the Federation was finally free. The Republic stayed for the next several months helping the Federation rebuild from the ashes of tyranny having experienced that themselves years ago they now could help out the Federation deal with the consequences they were now dealing with having been controlled for so long and now suddenly free

"Portland you do realize that you're going to be going to the Academy to make sure you know everything right?"

"I know that Captain, but in the meantime since classes can't be held until after we get a campus I'm going to be staying planet side and helping the rebuilding process while you guys deal with other planets, and of course the Republic is staying as well for a few months"

"What do the rightful leaders of the Federation have to say about a Republic Starfleet Academy and Federation branch?"

"They wonder why that wasn't done almost a century ago when I returned home and the treaty was first signed, either that or after the first time the Federation needed to use the Republic for refugees"

"Still can't believe the underground rebellion was also a underground Federation at the same time and all under the enemies noses"

"I know that surprised me too, until I thought about what part of the original Burning Galaxy Plan was in regards to how a rebellion was to be formed in the Federation"

"Continuity of government was basically the same and everything the Republic branch of Starfleet taught the underground Federation branch also taught with a few minor differences"

"Well can you blame each branch for focusing on the planets that their people might have to fight on?"

"Nope, though I wonder how the Federation branch will deal with the new history in regards to the clones"

"Don't worry, the Republic branch is sending all that information via the Senate and vice versa for the Federation branch so that each side can get caught up and eventually they hope to coordinate lessons between the two groups"

"Where will you study?"

"Here on Earth, remember the Federation is like a second home to me and while it may seem like I've barely been home in the Republic due to my long sleep I've also been away from the Federation for a long period of time. Besides I have orders from the Council to stay put and retrain on Earth and there is absolutely no way I am going against them"

"Okay then that answers all my questions"

"Indeed it does"

"Um one more question, what are you considered as while you're training? I need to know if I should address you as Cadet or whatever proper rank you're supposed to be whenever we come visit or something comes up"

"Well I am either going to be addressed as First Junior Sentinel Portland or Ambassador Portland depending on the situation"

"Wait even though you're retraining you're holding your rank that you held before your went into sleep?"

"Yes I am because I was in that rank the longest and to be honest with you it's best that I train at that rank so that there's no confusion once I do formally rejoin the ranks of Starfleet, unless they promote me after my training period"

"And the Ambassador part?"

"Yeah, they've reactivated my Ambassador status seeing as how I will be the only Sentinel doing retraining and even though we'll have an Ambassador from the Republic in the Federation that will be staying planet side there might be situations where a Republic Ambassador is immediately needed and as such my status as an official Ambassador will be extremely important"

"So what exactly is your official title when you go into Ambassador mode?"

"I am considered the Ambassador between the Republic and Federation and highest ranking Sentinel in Starfleet and that's even with Republic Sentinel's who might have rank over me. Both the Republic and Federation have decided that I am once again the highest ranking Sentinel and Jedi in Federation space while in Republic space I am considered the highest ranking Starfleet officer"

"Even with a Republic branch having well since been established shortly after your sleep?"

"Yeah well, that wasn't exactly the plan initially I've found out recently"

"Oh?"

"Yeah originally the Academy was to help whatever cadets escaped finish their education and then allow any Republic citizen that wanted to learn about the Federation before the fight started in earnest learn as much as possible in a relatively safe setting and ultimately became a Starfleet Academy only"

"How did that happen?"

"Well from the stories and reports I've heard people did start coming to the Academy originally to learn about the Federation in a class environment however people in the Republic decided that they wanted to be part of Starfleet and then they found out that things would take longer than initially thought so the Federation Academy became Starfleet Academy Republic division"

The Captain starts to leave to head to his assignment when he asks a question that some people would think weird if they didn't know Portland's personal history and for those that did know they would think it rude if they were not Jedi

"Portland do you ever regret your decision?"

"No I don't, and the reason why I don't is because the Force wouldn't have shown me the vision it had if it hadn't been needed. Yes it was just one possible future that the Force showed me but I realized that if the war lasted longer than people expected then by the time I woke up Soketh would be really old and would be more of an advisor than someone in an active role in Starfleet by the time the Federation and Republic were reunited, as such I decided to trust in the Force and went into the unique carbonite sleep so that should what the Force showed me be true I would be available for both sides because just book knowledge about either side wouldn't work a practical knowledge would also be needed and I'm the only person available at the moment"

"I see, I'm glad you trusted in the Force"

"Well...I also trusted that if what I had been shown hadn't happened that Soketh would have woken me up immediately"

"Well we really have to go now"

"I know Captain, I know, it was an honor to serve under you even though it was brief"

"I know Portland"

The Captain leaves and Ashland stays to help the rebuilding and soon enough the Academy was open again and people were starting to attend to learn how to become Starfleet Officers. Most students were considered first year cadets so that would be the largest class, but a few who had stayed with the underground officers that trained in an underground Academy were considered second through fourth year cadets but those classes were much smaller and Portland didn't fit into any of the categories due to her unique situation

"So you're going to be here for about a year and then go out into space again Portland"

"Actually I wanted to talk to you guys about that. I understand that you guys were underground and not openly training unlike with the Republic where there was a safe planet that everyone trained at, if you guys are willing I could be considered a first year cadet with special considerations"

"What do you mean?"

"Well if you know my history then you know that I went out on more missions than regular cadets so that I could learn about the Federation a lot faster then otherwise so I was wondering if I could go through the four years of training to help the other first year cadets but at the same time be able to go on missions during the breaks and if needed extend the missions while still getting classwork"

"Would your fellow classmates object to the special treatment?"

"Well that's why I wanted to run it by you guys first because the second through fourth year cadets know about my history having learned it during the fight for freedom as we freed you guys one by one and simply through talking to them at times if it seemed like they were struggling with something. So I wanted to run it by you guys first because when I first started at the Academy way back when I was still going on more missions but the students were told I was a special circumstances student who needed to be out more often than they did and to not question their teachers but I don't think that will work this time considering the situation we currently find ourselves in"

"We'll have to think about it but in the meantime we're going to make sure that the importance of silent communication hits home for everyone, we know that the second through fourth year students will know what to do because we've been underground for so long it's instinctive to be silent during a mission due to how you found us but the first year cadets have no clue and some of the older cadets might need a reminder as well. We already know that you're good to go because we've seen you using silent communication multiple times during the fighting"

"Yeah I get it alright, okay so what's the plan?"

"We have the phasers locked on the highest stun setting and then we have several missions planned out throughout the campus and we see how they do, there will be at least two teams comprised entirely of first year cadets but these cadets might stand a better chance because they were on planets where you either were silent or died if you went above ground to get supplies, and yes we literally mean above ground"

"But now that they can live out in the open they might have forgotten that sometimes silence is critical to survive"

"Exactly, we'll be placing you with a mixed group at least until we decide where you stand, though the rank you were put into carbonite sleep will stand once you graduate from the Academy because you do have the experience but you've also been asleep for a while so you need a refresher course that isn't a battlefield"

"Agreed, but um if we're stunned at the highest level we'll be out cold for several hours"

"Actually if you remember Doctor Crusher from the  _Enterprise_  way back when she developed a solution to that little problem and it's still being used today, the solution lasts for forty-eight hour now instead of fifteen minutes before it's no longer effective"

"So what will the students be told about the injection?"

"Vitamins to keep them healthy out in the field and there  _will_  be vitamins in the hypo but the concoction that keeps you out cold for only five minutes after a full powered stun will be mixed in as well, and there will also be officers and cadets that won't be participating so that we have security at need, the mock missions will be staggered so that no cadet is unavailable to protect the school at any time including you Portland"

"Okay then, when will these mock missions begin?"

"In a week, however so that you're as surprised as they are about them we won't tell you anymore like exact dates and times"

"Except as soon as we get the hypo I will know instantly that it's started"

"Oh you'll be surprised trust us"

What Ashland didn't know was that they would sneak the hypos in during mandatory physicals for the cadets which was another reason why the mock missions were staggered because the Academy couldn't do everyone's physicals in a day so they were spread out over the course of two weeks at least and a month at most. The next week the mock missions started but Ashland wasn't part of it until the day after her physical which took up to the weekened this time. Once she was informed about the fact that it was her turn to be part of the mock missions she realized that the teachers were correct and she  _hadn't_ known about the time because of the fact that the hypo that only knocked a person out with full stun was mixed in with the other innoculations that were needed during the annual physical


	9. Chapter 9

"Okay, let's see if we can't capture the weapons cache"

"Let's do it guys"

The team's assignment was to capture and maintain a "weapons cache" for another team but they had to be silent about it or else they would all die. The team started out fine but some of the first year cadets started to get a bit careless and loud and it was getting more dangerous as they neared their objective so the designated team leader decided to take things into her own hands

"Be quiet"

"Why?"

"Just do it" (signs to others) *I need someone to keep an eye out for patrols because these guys will get us killed if we're not careful due to the fact that they're being too loud*

*I'll do it*

*Are you sure Portland?*

*Yeah, don't worry I'll be fine due to not having the bracelet on me this time, but that might not be the case next time but for now every advantage that we have we'll use*

*Okay, and you're right, we will have to get used to you not having the bracelet but this time it will work to our advantage...I hope*

The first year cadets didn't know the sign language that was being used all that well so they were confused but everyone else knew what was going on. This time everyone knew about Portland's abilities because of the fact that the Republic was the group that finally helped free the Federation and there were plenty of Jedi there as well so Ashland didn't need to keep her abilities a secret this time, however there were going to be times when the fact that she was a Jedi would not be in play because of the Force inhibitor bracelets that were still in use but the Academy decided that for this mock mission at least she could have use of the Force. What Ashland didn't know was that the Federation had developed a reverse drug to prevent Force users from detecting them whenever they had access to the Force, this drug was developed in case of Sith coming to the Federation after having almost been invaded five years before Ashland woke up, though they were Federation born Sith

"Well so far it seems that the coast is clear but I'll just sneak up ahead so that...oh brother"

The rest of the team soon found out why Ashland had said that because right over the hill was the "enemy" and they had the team in their sites and soon enough everyone was stunned which meant everyone was dead. Five minutes later they were awake to the see the team that had gotten them simply waiting for the group to wake up and one of the instructors then spoke up once he knew that everyone was awake and focused on him

"Everyone is now dead because of the fact that people couldn't keep silent"

One of the first year cadets decided to put his foot in his mouth just then by shifting blame

"It's not our fault! Lauren thought that Ashland could detect trouble for some reason and decided to send her on ahead it's Ashland's fault that she didn't detect the danger sooner"

"I didn't feel them coming so you're right it might be my fault, but you guys were too loud"

"No we weren't"

The instructor decides to speak up even though he knew Ashland wouldn't argue if at all possible

"That's enough cadet you first year cadets and you alone are to blame for getting your team killed. Ashland couldn't detect the enemy for a reason which we will only explain to her in private, if you had remained silent you would have heard the team coming instead because you were talking you didn't hear the subtle signs given to you that there was trouble"

"That's why you insisted on us being silent at one point Portland"

"Exactly Lauren that's exactly why I insisted on silence because I knew that if we were silent I might  _hear_  trouble before I sensed it"

"Yeah right you can't do anything without your so called special abilities"

Ashland simply grits her teeth knowing that she would show the cadet the truth at a later date and not really willing to show her physical scars that she had gotten over the years through being captive and learning certain lessons the hard way

"Carson I would suggest you lose that attitude before you get someone killed"

"You're just a fellow cadet like me what makes you think you can give me any orders"

Suddenly Ashland's comm went off and the fact that the person used her real rank was the first hint that something major was going on, actually it was the second hint because of the fact that she wasn't supposed to be called until after the mock missions were done because even though her group was killed there were still at least twenty-four hours before her team was done with multiple mock missions that emphasized silence rather than other methods

"First Junior Sentinel Ashland Portland return to base immediately"

"This is First Junior Sentinel Ashland Portland understood" (turns to the group) "sorry guys but duty calls I need to leave before this training session's over"

"Must be serious to call you in full"

"I know and that worries me...a lot actually, any special instructions from you before I leave?"

"Depending on the situation call back and we'll recall all the cadets to deal with the problem"

"Sorry but depending on the situation I will do that myself instructor I  _do_ have that authority as you well know"

"You're right you do, very well it's at your discretion then"

"Besides that anything else I should be alert for?"

"Actually yeah make sure that all the cadets are prepared for potential trouble before we get back to the Academy depending on what you find out because depending on what you find out we might have to..."

"I know rapid deployment, I understand, don't worry I'll alert all cadets on my why about the potential deployment issue"

"How will you address them though, as a fellow cadet or..."

They soon see Ashland switching from her cadet pip to her rank pip which meant that she was going to address everyone in her proper rank. The reason why was because of an incident during one of the times Ashland was dead before the whole war started and Ashland was asleep. A Sentinel was requested to come back to the Academy undercover to test a new class that the school was thinking of adding however during the class one day his crew had been attacked and he was needed back on his assigned ship so he was called to the office by his true rank revealing the truth to the cadets. After that day it was decided that whenever a Sentinel undercover was requested by their true rank they would put on the pip signifying their real rank so that they aren't inhibited by well meaning cadets who didn't know the story behind the undercover work or why a cadet was pretending to be a higher ranking officer when in fact they weren't

"Okay you're going to address them as your true rank, full explanation to first year cadets?"

"Go for it, depending on the situation all my discussions with the school might have been for nothing if we have to deploy, either that or if I have to deploy solo, but let's wait and find out first okay"

"Base to First Junior Sentinel Ashland Portland get here immediately"

"Understood sir, sorry had to discuss something with current instructors"

"Understood, forgot about that"

"No problem on my way"

Five minutes later Ashland was back at base and watching a video which explained why Ashland had been called in in the first place

"When was this taken?"

"About five hours ago, we only received this thirty minutes ago so there's a serious time delay however considering we're still in the rebuilding process it's not really surprising we've got a time delay still and even if we were completely rebuilt there would be areas of time delay in regards to video depending on the circumstances"

"Okay, let's not alarm the cadets at the moment if it can be avoided but they do need to be on standby if I fail in the mission so I'm going to contact the instructors I was with when I was called in and tell them to alert the cadets that they're on standby for potential trouble"

"That's actually what we were thinking as well but we wanted your advice first just in case you could tell something different from what we were with the video"

"No seems like regular trouble to me but since it might need my abilities in the Force as the only active duty Sentinel in the Federation at the moment I need to be there"

"Yeah that reminds me just why did all the Republic born Sentinel's return to the Republic when they knew that we could still use them?"

"Simple because all of us could tell in the Force that it wasn't yet time for there to be more than me, besides there are still a few issues in the Republic that need to be addressed and the Republic born Sentinel's will be needed to resolve those issues. We've agreed that after five months we can start filtering the Republic born Sentinel's into working in the Federation so that we maintain a presence in both galaxies because let's face it now that there's been a Starfleet Academy established in the Republic for so long we can't go back to the old ways before the blasted war"

"You're right and we should have thought of that ourselves, okay see you in two months if not sooner, if it takes longer you report in at least once a day more often if needed"

"Understood" (taps comm badge) "Sentinel Portland to instructor Anderson"

"This is Anderson go ahead Portland?"

"Tell the rest of the cadets that they're on standby for trouble but hopefully me and a select team should be able to handle the problem however if I fail the trouble could come to Earth thus the reason why you're on standby"

"Are the mock missions going to continue while you're on the mission?"

The head of the Academy speaks up then

"Yes they are, this will help should something actually happen"

"Understood"

"So who am I to be temporarily assigned with?"

"The  _USS NEXUS_  will take you to where you're supposed to go they already have the rest of the specialists we'll need to be able to complete this mission safely we hope"

"Okay"

Ashland suddenly blanked out for a minute and realized that she was about to be thought dead  _again_ , she also found that it would continue until she attained the rank of Commander though the Force didn't tell her why she had to be thought dead so often

"By the way until you see my body don't believe any reports of my death on this mission"

"Again?"

"Yes again I have no clue why but I will be thought dead several times before my promotion to Commander and this is going to be one of those times, however only the Admiralty is to know the truth about the fact that I'm alive"

"Can't we just promote you right out of the Academy?"

"Nope for some reason that the Force isn't being clear on I need to remain a First Junior for a bit of time before my promotion, don't worry you'll know when the right time to promote me will be because either I will request it telling you that the Force says it's time or you'll know in your hearts that it's time for me to move on and get closer to having my own command"

"Understood, we know better than to resist a Jedi following the will of the Force"

"History lessons tell you guys that?"

"That and a mission while we were still freeing the Federation that you weren't part of"

"Oh that mission, I received the report but I didn't realize you denied a Jedi the ability to follow the will of the Force which was very stupid of you by the way"

"We know we learned that lesson the hard way and we'll never do that again trust us"

"Good, now then for the most part Sentinel's will obey the Admiralty and the orders of Starfleet but there will be times when we  _have_  to obey the will of the Force but don't worry it won't happen often and most likely unless it's really important if we do follow the will of the Force it will be more in regards to protecting people all of a sudden or going one direction instead of another if we're told to stay together or split up on away missions"

"That's good to know for the future"

"There is unfortunately one exception to the rule and you're looking at her"

"Portland..."

"It's not my fault I'm a Force Trouble indicator and as such I'm more in tune with the Force and feel it's will a lot more often, but I can also discern if I truly have to follow those feelings or if I have time or can delegate to another person but there will still be times when I can't"

"Understood, well the  _Nexus_  will be here in about five minutes so you'd better get your spare lightsaber and be ready for teleportation"

"Agreed, still can't believe my other lightsabers were still in their hiding spots and only needed new power sources after all these years"

"It is what it is, part of that in regards to the  _New Hope_  might have been Soketh"

"You're probably right, well I'm off"

Ashland is soon on the  _Nexus_  and is fully debriefed once on the ship

"So basically this is a search and destroy mission that may or may not get us killed"

"Pretty much Lt. though I must say that the possibility is pretty high in getting killed from what I've seen on the video"

"Lt. Commander Portland what..."

"Okay first of all call me Sentinel Portland I thought you were fully briefed on that Commander second of all the Force is screaming at me that something is wrong but what exactly I can't tell you for whatever reason"

"Sorry Sentinel I was briefed but due to the fact that this is my first time working with Sentinel's and the Federation has been unable to truly have a Starfleet and thus have Jedi serving in Starfleet in seventy years you can't really blame me for being a bit forgetful"

"You're right, things haven't truly stabalized in the Federation yet so I don't blame you, just try to remember for next time but don't judge yourself too harshly at first for mistakes, it happened before after we were officially given the designation of Sentinel"

While they were talking they were also drinking tea and unfortunately they were drinking chamomile which Ashland soon realized after having finished the tea

"I'll be up in about twelve hours thanks to the chamomile good night"

Right after that Ashland simply went to sleep

"Wait why did she go to sleep all we had was tea"

"Chamomile tea, I forgot that in the files it states that chamomile puts her to sleep"

The next day they arrived at the planet and trouble arrived soon after in the form of an explosion that Ashland was caught in

"Portland! Johnson to  _Nexus_  five to beam up"

The remaining members of the away team were beamed up and the Captain was there having been alerted to the trouble immediately

"Where's Portland?"

"Dead, caught in an explosion that was waiting for us"

"Understood I'll inform the Admiralty as Portland called them"

The Captain calls the Admiralty and informed them of Portland's death

"Understood Captain"

Meanwhile Ashland had been captured and was currently  _not_ a happy camper and letting her captures know it...in Huttese

"If you're not going to speak in a language we can understand don't speak at all"

*As if you will never understand a word I say if I can help it *

Ashland knew that there was a Republic representative that spoke Huttese and as such if she was being recorded she could pass on a message without anyone even knowing it, she even thought about her torture being sent out on the air live. Three years later Ashland was saved and she was in rough shape and that's when she found out that her aging and healing had been cut in half

"Basically for every four years you age I age two and instead of healing ten times faster I only heal five times faster"

"Exactly"

"I understand"

Ashland would remain a First Junior Sentinel for ten more years and thought dead several more times more often then not unintentionally but once it was planned between her and the Captain because her life was in danger otherwise but finally she knew it was time for her to be promoted to Commander and she knew it

"So it's time isn't it?"

"Yes it is"

"Okay then let's do it"

Soon after Ashland was alerted to trouble in the Republic that she was needed for due to the fact that part of the trouble involved a joint mission for Republic based and Federation based Starfleet officers

"Okay then let's get to it"

So Ashland under the command of a new Captain heads to the Republic

_Years later_

"After she settled the situation in regards to the team up Sentinel Portland went on to continue splitting her time between the Republic and Federation, eventually becoming a Senior Sentinel. She was eventually killed on Coruscant during a celebration in honor of when the Republic and Federation were reunited after seventy years of separation"

"Admiral Data how did either side feel about how she split her time between the Republic and Federation?"

"They were fine with it because they understood that she had a duty to both galaxies"

Data had become an Admiral fifteen years after Ashland's death and rose through the ranks somewhat fast according to some people but they were forgetting that as an Android Data never aged so his rise through the ranks was actually relatively slow considering how long he had held a single rank in the Dominion during the seventy year separation, and the fact that Ashland survived to become 115 years old with her slow rate of aging, but she was still very active in Starfleet until her death. There had been periods where the two groups were not friends and as such there were no Sentinel's in either Starfleet but as soon as issues were resolved there were Sentinel's once more and Data even took a Sentinel as his aid whenever possible in honor of Ashland Portland the first ever Sentinel of Starfleet


End file.
